Newly Elected NYC Mayor To Consider Allowing Businesses To Accept Crypto Payments

Newly elected New York City NYC Mayor Eric Adams has revealed on Sunday that he is “going to look at” how to encourage businesses to accept crypto as a form of payment. This follows after he made headlines a week ago for saying he’ll be taking his first three paychecks in bitcoin.

NYC Mayor Considers Nudging Businesses Towards Accepting Crypto Payments

In his reply to a question by CNN’s “State of the Union” co-host Dana Bash about his plans of pushing businesses to implement crypto payments, Adams explained that the way to get it right is by treading carefully, and he assured his administration will get it just right.

The newly elected NYC mayor Adams recently caused a stir when he took to his Twitter page to announce that his first three payments as mayor of New York City would be issued as bitcoin. He also promises to make New York City, the center of the cryptocurrency industry and other fast-growing, innovative industries.

Now, probably in a bid to throw more light on the subject matter, the mayor-elect made some reaffirming statements on Sunday in line with his vows. He said to CNN’s Bash that his announcement was made to “send a signal.”

He said the city is typically a center of innovation, self-driving cars, life sciences, drone development, and cybersecurity. And so he’s been talking about blockchain and Bitcoins, so as to inspire that kind of energy again amongst young people.

Response To Critics

Bitcoin has grown so much in popularity over the past few years, with some still being unclear about the use of cryptocurrency. Last month, the U.S. overtook China as the largest Bitcoin center after Beijing started cracking down on cryptocurrency mining.

Adams won New York City’s mayoral race last week, after defeating Republican opponent Curtis Sliwa by nearly 383,000 votes.